Supercomputers are vital to nuclear weapons design and scientific research, but in the corporate world, typically only the largest firms can afford to create the complex programs needed to run them.

"Companies aren't using supercomputers because the software tools aren't as robust as they'd like," says Ms. Freitag, who holds a doctorate in applied mathematics.

However, Fuel Tech tapped Ms. Freitag in 1995 to develop a 3-D visual simulation of an industrial boiler, using supercomputer techniques developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory.

Inside the virtual boiler, engineers literally see how design changes will reduce pollution to a minimum.

In 1997, her work earned her the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest U.S. government honor for researchers in the first five years of their careers.